Queen of the seas sails a steady course

Julia Breen talks to Gillian Baker, director of TSM Audio, who has just won a bursary on a Common Purpose leadership course.

"IT wasn't exactly Jane McDonald, but it was really good fun," says Gillian Baker, with an embarrassed grin.

She is describing the time she used to pull on a glitzy frock and sing her lungs out, in the style of cruise line songstress McDonald, for cross-Channel ferry hoppers.

"Not a lot of people know about that," she says. "It's just something that doesn't come up in conversation very much, and it always seems far removed from the world of business."

Growing up on a Teesside council estate, Gillian was encouraged to get qualifications under her belt before she followed her dream of singing.

She studied for a degree in accountancy at the University of Teesside before drifting through several office jobs, which she hated.

"I don't like to be number-crunching in an office all day," she says.

"But I was always encouraged to get qualifications and experience behind you before you take a few risks."

Gillian's voice, rather than her head for figures, impressed Brittany Ferries bosses when she auditioned for a job as a singer and she was soon working on the St Malo to Cannes route, singing up to three times a day for ferry passengers.

Gillian, who was named Networker of the Year in last year's Women in Business awards, still occasionally sings but is coy about exactly where.

"It is so different to running the business that it is a refreshing change," she says.

It was through her love of music that Gillian met her life partner - and business partner - Tony Stewart. She was recording songs on to a demo tape when their eyes met across his studio.

Tony had run TSM Audio as a sole trader for 13 years but when he met Gillian they set up a company, with his expertees as a sound engineer and hers as a book-keeper.

She says: "We originally started as a recording studio but moved into duplication. We do creative authoring, music production and video editing as well as duplication.

"We have been working with the Digital City project with the University of Teesside, and do work for Animex, the animation festival which is held here.

"We used to be in Stockton, but we moved to Middlesbrough because of all the changes, all of the things that were happening with the new media industry here.

"When we started up, we were the only ones in the area doing this kind of service, the production side of media.

"Most of our customers are within the Tees Valley. We were very fortunate actually to start the business when we did, about four years ago, because that was the start of a swing towards the digital industry in the area, and we have been here since then, at the heart of it."

Eventually, the couple hope to move the business from Broadcasting House to a new "boho" - bohemian - region being envisaged in Middlesbrough, close to the multi-million pound Middlehaven development.

It is hoped that all Middlesbrough's digital companies will be clustered together close to Middlehaven when the town's regeneration strategy is complete.

Gillian says that she also hopes to take on staff directly from the University of Teesside, which has a strong digital media department, in the next year to ease the work burden on the couple.

"When you are self-employed, with the hours you have to put in, it can almost take over your life to a certain degree," she says. "And when you work with your partner the danger is you take your work home. When people say to me - how do you work together - I just say that it's good because he understands what it is like to be self-employed, and we both understand that if there is work to do, we have to stay late and finish it."

Tony and Gillian's clients have included the Newcastle Falcons, the NHS and the University of Teesside. Hypnotherapists and motivational speakers are also clients of their recording studio.

The couple can take video or animation footage and encode it on to CD or DVD, put music to it and make it into a packaged, finished project, whether it is for an animation company hoping to sell their cartoon in the US, or for an NHS Powerpoint presentation.

They can also duplicate the CDs, creating hundreds and even thousands of copies for clients.

Because of the business-to-business nature of the work and the fact that a start-up company has little ready cash for advertising, Gillian relied heavily on her networking skills to bring in work.

She says: "I was really surprised to win the Networker of the Year award because I could think of other people who go to more events than I do.

"But I think it must have something to do with the way you interact.

"It is a bit intimidating at first going to these events, but it gets easier.

"Networking isn't just about telling people what you do and trying to sell to them, it's about give and take.

"I am ready to help people out. And I don't go to Women into the Network events, for example, to network because it is much more about comradeship.

"As well as that I'm a member of the Service Network and some business clubs, and I used to be involved with Business Network International."

It was through BNI that Gillian met Caroline Hughes, managing director of Billingham-based Click Here, which was recently sold to The Tanfield Group plc, based in Durham.

Caroline, a graduate of the Common Purpose course in Teesside, put Gillian's name forward for a bursary for the leadership course.

Gillian says: "Caroline is a bit of a mentor in a way, although not officially. I was really touched when I read what she had written about me when she nominated me.

"When you are a small business paying money for something like Common Purpose isn't a priority so it is a privilege to be able to have the fees paid.

"When you get burdened down with day-to-day work you sometimes forget what it all means and it can be a bit restricting - which is why something like Common Purpose is important.

"Sometimes you have to take a step outside of the business organisation to bring in focus and vision back to inspire you."

Common Purpose brings together people from the public, private and voluntary sectors to give an insight into law and order, business, and health, among other areas, to understand how the Tees Valley works.

Gillian, who admits to being "passionate" about Teesside, hopes she can fine-tune her networking skills still further, and get greater insight into the area in which she lives and works as she prepares to expand her business and take on staff.